Robert Herbert Story (28 January 1835 – 13 January 1907) was a

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

divine Divinity (from Latin ) refers to the quality, presence, or nature of that which is divine—a term that, before the rise of monotheism, evoked a broad and dynamic field of sacred power. In the ancient world, divinity was not limited to a singl ...

and

Principal of the University of Glasgow The Principal of the University of Glasgow is the working head of the University of Glasgow, University, acting as its chief executive. He is responsible for the day-to-day management of the university as well as its strategic planning and admin ...

. He attained the highest position in the Scottish church as

Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland The moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is the minister or elder chosen to moderate (chair) the annual General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, which is held for a week in Edinburgh every year. After chairing the Ass ...

in 1894.

Biography

Story was born on 28 January 1835 at the manse at

Rosneath Rosneath () is a village in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It sits on the western shore of the Gare Loch, northwest of the tip of the Rosneath Peninsula. It is about by road from the village of Kilcreggan, which is sited on the southern shore ...

Dunbartonshire Dunbartonshire () or the County of Dumbarton is a Shires of Scotland, historic county, lieutenancy areas of Scotland, lieutenancy area and registration county in the west central Lowlands of Scotland lying to the north of the River Clyde. Dunbar ...

, the son of Rev Robert Story, the parish minister.''Fasti Ecclesiae Scoticanae''; vol. 7; by Hew Scott He was educated at the universities of

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

St Andrews St Andrews (; ; , pronounced ʰʲɪʎˈrˠiː.ɪɲ is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fourth-largest settleme ...

and

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...

. In November 1858 he was licensed to preach as a

Church of Scotland The Church of Scotland (CoS; ; ) is a Presbyterian denomination of Christianity that holds the status of the national church in Scotland. It is one of the country's largest, having 245,000 members in 2024 and 259,200 members in 2023. While mem ...

minister by the Presbytery of

Dumbarton Dumbarton (; , or ; or , meaning 'fort of the Britons (historical), Britons') is a town in West Dunbartonshire, Scotland, on the north bank of the River Clyde where the River Leven, Dunbartonshire, River Leven flows into the Clyde estuary. ...

. He was then sent to Canada to improve the Church of Scotland's presence there. In 1859, he was assistant minister at St Andrew's Church,

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, but in February 1860 returned to Scotland when he was inducted as minister of his home town of Rosneath in succession to his father.

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the town council under the authority of a royal charter from King James VI in 1582 and offi ...

awarded him a Doctor of Divinity in 1874. He was appointed Junior Clerk of the General Assembly in 1886. From 1885 to 1889 he was Editor of the Scots Magazine. In November 1886, he moved to

Glasgow University The University of Glasgow (abbreviated as ''Glas.'' in post-nominals; ) is a public research university in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded by papal bull in , it is the fourth-oldest university in the English-speaking world and one of Scotland's four ...

as Professor of Church History. In 1898, he became Principal of the University, succeeding John Caird. He was

in 1894, and its Principal Clerk from that year until his death on 13 January 1907. Story had been appointed in 1886 as Chaplain in Ordinary to

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

, and was also Chaplain-in-Ordinary in Scotland to

King Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

following Victoria's death. Story was appointed Honorary Chaplain to the Clyde Brigade of the Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers in 1896., and to the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

in 1904. He received an honorary doctorate as

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

(LL.D.) from the

University of St Andrews The University of St Andrews (, ; abbreviated as St And in post-nominals) is a public university in St Andrews, Scotland. It is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, oldest of the four ancient universities of Scotland and, f ...

in 1900. He lived his final years in rooms at the University (13 University)Glasgow Post Office Directory 1906 and died in Glasgow on 13 January 1907. His position as Principal was filled by Sir Donald MacAlister.

Family

In October 1863 he married the author Janet Leith Maughan (d. 1926), daughter of Captain Philip Maughan. They had a son, who died in infancy and two daughters.

Trivia

John Anderson, the eighteenth-century pioneer of vocational education and Professor of Natural Philosophy at Glasgow, was also born in Rosneath and the son of the minister of the parish church.

Character

Story was a staunch supporter of the

, and had little sympathy for schemes of reunion with the other

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

communities. He vigorously opposed the action of Bishop Welldon, then metropolitan of

Calcutta Kolkata, also known as Calcutta (List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, its official name until 2001), is the capital and largest city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal. It lies on the eastern ba ...

, in excluding Scottish chaplains and troops from the use of garrison churches in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

because these had not received episcopal consecration. He was characterized by an absolutely fearless honesty, which sometimes gave offence, but at the basis of his nature there was a warm, tender and sympathetic heart, incapable of meanness or intrigue.

Works

In addition to lives of his father (1862), Professor Robert Lee (1870) and William Carstares (1876), he published a devotional book ''Christ the Consoler; a volume of sermons, Creed and Conduct'' (1878); ''The Apostolic Ministry in the Scottish Church'' (

Baird Lecture ''The Baird Lecture'' is a lectureship that was endowed by James Baird (industrialist), James Baird to promote the Christian religion. History and endowment In 1873 James Baird (industrialist), James Baird established The Baird Trust and gave into ...

, 1897), and several pamphlets on church questions. Is magnum opus was The Church of Scotland, Past and Present 5.vols. (1890/1)

References

;Attribution

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Story, Robert Herbert People from Rosneath 1835 births 1907 deaths Church of Scotland Academics of the University of Glasgow Principals of the University of Glasgow Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Alumni of the University of St Andrews Heidelberg University alumni Moderators of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland